Diversifying Valentine's Day by Karissa

Vanessa posted recently about what Valentine's Day looks like in her classes (http://blogs.preknow.org/insideprek/2008/02/the-perils-of-v.html).  Reading her entry made me think about how we spent our special day. 

The week before Valentine’s Day I sent home a class list and an explanation about why we take time to celebrate this day. We talked about the importance of friendship and expressing your feelings in a positive way. The students were also encouraged to practice their penmanship and complete a pretty major task – putting their names and their friends’ names on 20 Valentines!

When last Thursday arrived, our room was decorated, and many students were dressed in red, pink, white, and heart patterns. As the packages and bags of Valentines came in, I noticed everyone prepared their Valentines a little different. Not only were they different characters or colors, but their approach to completing the task reflected their developmental state!

• Cora, an inclusion student from our Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) class, made her “C” on each Valentine. A concept we have been working on for the past few weeks.
• Chitra, a hardworking artist, hand-made each Valentine buy folding paper in half, drawing a different picture and name on each and signing her name.
• William, another inclusion student from ECSE, wrote his whole name, but his family helped him cut and paste the names from the class list. One of his goals in our class is to stick with a task, and his parents helped him at home by providing a variety of ways to stick with it!  They used scissors and glue, taped the valentines closed and had William use different colored markers for each name. 
• Bailey’s Valentine cards included her last name, which she has been practicing at home and at school.
• Nick’s mom was worried because he did not want to help her prepare his Valentine cards. However, when Nick got to school on Thursday I watched as he went around to almost every student and wished them “Happy Valentine’s Day!” by name.

I have to agree with Vanessa - there are times when you don't know what you will get - 22 cards for the teacher, a package of baby shower invites?!  But this learning process is so important to our families.  Who knew that Valentine’s Day would provide such a clear example of the diverse learners I have in my pre-k classes?! Their individuality and approach to learning make our class a rich environment for learning and community building!